Number One Apprentice
by SamCyberCat
Summary: A series of AU stories in which Luke Triton is the apprentice of someone different in each chapter.
1. Phoenix Wright

**Notes:** I came across a prompt on the kinkmeme that asked for an AU where Luke could be the apprentice of anyone else in fiction except for Layton and was greatly intrigued by it. So I've decided to do a series of casual fanfics based around just that. I'm not sure how often these will be updated, just whenever I feel like it, probably. But to start us off, here is a fic where Luke instead finds himself as being the apprentice of Phoenix Wright. Set sometime after the events of Spectre's Call, which happened very differently in this fic, and is entirely unconnected to . Contains heavily spoilers for PL4.

* * *

"Why is he here, Nick? Tell me why you have a little boy in your office! Are you secretly some kind of sicko? Maya's going to be so mad when she gets back from the mountains and finds out!" Larry whined, pulling a face.

His expression was no match for the look of disgust that Phoenix gave him in return, however.

"Larry, we've known each other since we were kids. I'm hurt that you'd even think something like that about me," he replied.

"That doesn't answer my question though," Larry insisted.

Phoenix sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to get rid of him without a definite answer; "If you must know, it all comes back to that case in England I was called to deal with last month."

"You mean from that guy who looked like Lincoln?" checked Larry.

"Mr. Triton is the mayor of Misthallery and a very important man," Phoenix replied, irritation seeping into his tone, "His town had been frequently damaged by the attacks of a mysterious spectre and after putting up with so much he decided that it was time to call in a lawyer to deal with it."

"As much as this sounds like the beginning of every other crazy job you wind up with, it's kind of strange that he'd call a lawyer and not a detective," mused Larry.

"Not as strange as you might think. Though its stranger that he'd call me instead of Edgeworth," Phoenix answered, "Something was destroying houses and the role of a lawyer is to find out who that person is and prove to a court that they did wrong. Apparently he heard about me through my reputation and didn't realise I was a defence attorney, not a prosecutor, until I got there. But by that point I was interested enough to take the case on anyway."

Larry nodded; "Okay, so I get that you flew off to England because some guy thought you were a Ghostbuster, but what does that have to do with the kid?"

"Luke is Clark's son. He… helped me on my investigation. At first he seemed kind of angry, I'd heard that he'd tried to write a letter to some other guy to come find out the truth about the spectre but his dad had found out and stopped him before he could send it, after a while though I managed to convince him that I really did want to help. The two of us made a great team," said Phoenix. Finding a sidekick at the drop of a hat seemed to be a habit of his.

"You've got me curious now. Spill the beans – what was the mystery of this house-punching spook?" Larry questioned, leaning forward on his seat.

If only it had been that simple.

In a moment, Phoenix thought about everything he'd gone through in Misthallery – about the Black Raven in the mask of a plague doctor, the two children living alone in a big mansion, one of whom was rumoured to be a witch and the other fooling people into thinking he was an old man, the Golden Garden that could cure all illnesses, and the water-pipes that had carried the sound of-

"…A giant manatee fighting against a digging robot," he concluded.

"What!"

Larry almost fell forward. Phoenix couldn't blame him.

"You heard me," he chuckled.

"Nick, I'm not that stupid!" gasped Larry, "I know you think I'm a few pickles short of a burger, but there's no way you can expect me to believe something like that!"

"Believe whatever you want, but I'm telling you that-"

He was cut off by sudden sound of yelling from the room just beyond.

"You can't just barge into Mr. Wright's office without an appointment! He's busy talking to a client right now! Um, I think…"

"Nick is one of my best friends and I can see him whenever I want! Who do you think you are to try and stop me?"

Phoenix sighed.

"I should probably go deal with that…"

Excusing himself, he went through to the other room, where he found Luke and the recently arrived Maya glaring at each other. They both ceased as soon as he walked in and instead looked over at him, bursting into exclamation.

"This girl broke into your office, Mr. Wright!"

"Who is this kid, Nick? Did you get a receptionist while I was away? You can't employ a boy as young as this, you know!"

Holding up his hands, Phoenix reasoned, "If you both calm down I can explain everything. Luke, this is my friend Maya, her sister Mia was the original owner of this law firm. Maya, this is Luke, he's my-"

"You didn't finish the story!" Larry butted in, coming through from the other room, "How did a manatee help you to bring this kid here from England?"

"A manatee? Did you go to Seaworld without me?" huffed Maya, puffing out her cheeks, "And you brought this English kid here so he could go with you!"

"He didn't bring me here for that, he brought me here to be his apprentice," corrected Luke.

"Apprentice?" Maya and Larry echoed in unison, both looking from Luke to Phoenix with matching expressions of blank confusion.

"Yes, well, after I helped Misthallery Luke decided that he wanted to learn everything there is to know about being a lawyer from me," Phoenix sheepishly answered.

"But you don't even know that much," Larry pointed out.

"Mr. Wright is the best lawyer in the world! You should have seen him fighting that evil villain Descole! And then Loosha joined in and all the water came through the town," babbled Luke, making arm motions to emphasise his points, "Then we found the Golden Garden and Arianna got better."

It was clear that neither Larry nor Maya had the faintest idea what he was talking about.

"Kid, that's not what lawyers do," corrected Larry.

"Yeah, that's more like a superhero. Though Nick does a lot of crazy stuff like that sometimes, too," Maya added.

"Then I want to be a person who does crazy superhero stuff like Mr. Wright," confirmed Luke.

"I think you'd have a better time just learning how to be a lawyer," Phoenix said, before the whole discussion could derail too much, "There's a lot I can teach you."

"Good! Because I promise to learn everything that I can," assured Luke.

"Between him and Maya it'll be like you're babysitting for two kids," sniggered Larry.

"Three when you come over," hummed Phoenix.

"Hey! That's not very nice!"

"Are you saying Mr. Wright's not very nice? Because he's the nicest guy I've ever met!"

"If he was so nice then why did you all leave me behind when you went to Seaworld to see the manatees?"

Deciding that there was no point to getting involved in this particular argument, Phoenix walked back through to his office, to let them get on with it. Their bickering was dulled considerably as the door closed behind him.

This was his life – Phoenix Wright and the noisy tagalongs that he was too nice to tell to leave him alone. Although that wasn't really fair. They were all good people. Maya and Larry were his friends, and Luke showed the potential to be a good apprentice, even if he wasn't exactly sure what his apprenticeship was for.

The best way to sum it up would be to say that the life of Phoenix Wright was colourful.

And Luke would fit right in with all his crazy adventures.


	2. Clive Dove

**Notes:** This chapter has Luke as the apprentice of Clive Dove. Set at the beginning of an alternate Lost Future, but still very spoiler-heavy for PL3, despite being an AU.

* * *

Luke knew that he wasn't allowed to be nervous, which only resulted in magnifying his nerves tenfold.

It wasn't even really as if he was even acting at all, right?

The Professor was a nice person and they were friends, he just wasn't being entirely honest about the reason behind their friendship. Clive had always insisted that Layton wasn't the person they should hate and that was good, because Luke didn't think that he could hate this man if he tried. But all the same, lying to him made Luke feel ill.

It had been easier at first – when all Clive wanted him to do was build up a bond with Layton. Professor and apprentice had travelled together, uncovering the truths behind the various strange events that life threw at them. It had all been natural and actually kind of fun.

Today, however, would be neither of those things.

It would actually matter if Luke made mistakes. Even if it should have been impossible to make mistakes, seeing as his whole role in the plan was to just be Luke, the apprentice of Hershel Layton. Someone Layton would trust. So that when Clive came along as Future Luke, Layton would trust him by extension.

But what if he slipped up and Layton found out that he was all part of this… this scheme that Clive had assured him was for the best?

What if after finding out, Layton would hate Luke forever because he'd been lying to him?

What if Layton would then tell the police and… and Luke would get arrested (he wasn't sure if someone his age could be arrested; that didn't stop him from worrying, though), even if it should be those men who killed all those people who got arrested instead?

What if…

What if he voiced his concerns to Clive for the millionth time, just to be told dismissively that everything would be all right once again?

He kind of hated Clive for that reason. Anything he told Luke seemed to largely depend on his mood at the time. Like when they'd first met, after getting over the initial shock of how similar they looked, Clive had pretty much told Luke everything. Or at least, at first Luke had assumed it was everything. The more they got to know each other, the more Luke doubted he'd ever get the full story until a long time after this plan was over. However, he'd been told enough. The tales of how Clive's parents had been killed in an attempt to build a time machine, only for one of the men responsible to go on to become the Prime Minister and the other one to carry on with his work despite the death, had been enough back then. Young and idealistic, Luke had agreed to help Clive get those evil people put behind bars.

As time went on, Clive had been less open about what he intended to do. What Luke was told was only what he needed to know – like how he had to make Layton trust them, because apparently Layton could help. He was never told the reasons why Clive felt that Layton could help, and if that was the case why they couldn't just talk to him directly about it, just that Clive had total certainty that this was the case.

The one time that Luke had asked more than he'd needed to know had been when Clive had enlisted the help of Dimitri Allen, one of the men behind the time machine. He'd been horrified. Surely, Dimitri was someone who shouldn't be trusted after all that he'd done.

So Clive had promised him that he didn't trust Dimitri. That Dimitri was only there because he needed to be kept close for when the time of his use came. Then he would be exposed and arrested. Put simply, he was just a pawn in their plans.

Beyond that, Luke had been told very little about Dimitri, except that it was probably in his best interests to stay away from him. Something that he was happy to oblige to do.

Today, though, that was not strictly possible, as Dr. Alain Stahngun took to the stage, ready to unveil his time machine. He never once looked over in Luke's direction, which was for the best, as Luke felt he might have cracked under pressure if he had done.

It was already hard enough to feign ignorance to Layton in regards to why they were here.

"It does seem rather odd that people like Inspector Chelmey, Barton and ourselves would be invited to such an event," mused Layton, from where he sat next to Luke.

"I… I have no idea why we would be," Luke lied, trying to keep his voice from displaying too much hesitation.

Lying to the Professor was just too hard.

But then… wasn't that what he'd been doing this whole time anyway?

From upon the stage, Dimitri's voice echoed, "Without further ado, I give you my time machine!"

It starts.


	3. Don Paolo

**Notes:** This chapter has Luke as the apprentice of Don Paolo, as suggested by Guaguagirl on deviantART. Set sometime before Curious Village, with spoilers for PL1 and PL4. Sorry that it's been so long since I've updated this series, I sadly haven't had a lot of time to work on it between other projects lately. Also, this chapter reads a little wonky, which I apologise for. After failing to fix it a few times I figured that I'd just upload it as is so I can move onto another apprentice AU.

* * *

"Nothing shall stand in the way of the Great Don Paolo's Number One Apprentice! Not Layton! Not Scotland Yard! N-not...!"

This great proclamation trailed off into a a spluttering cough that made Don Paolo look over from where he'd been working on his latest flying machine. He frowned at the sight of young Luke, almost hacking his lungs up in front of a mirror.

"Kid, stop trying to imitate my voice. You can't do it. And if you keep trying I'll have to take you to the hospital," he grumbled. It didn't even do to imagine such a thing, given that he was a wanted criminal who probably wasn't free to wander into anywhere without someone recognising him. Things would definitely get messy quickly.

Recovering from his coughing and seemingly undeterred by it, Luke walked over, smiling cheerfully as he replied, "I'm sorry. It's just that I really want to be the best inventor in the world, just like you are."

Flattery was possibly the whole reason that Don Paolo kept him around.

"Well, the fastest way to be a great inventor is to actually invent something, not just yell in front of a mirror," Don Paolo reminded.

"Yelling is important as well," argued Luke, having reached this conclusion from listening to Don Paolo shouting at pretty much everyone he'd ever met on a regular basis, "You've got to show that dastardly Layton who's in charge, after all."

"Y-yes, quite," mumbled Don Paolo.

Admittedly, he felt a little guilty that the boy had developed such a dim view of Layton because of him. Of course, as far as he was concerned, Layton really was an awful person who didn't deserve kindness from anyone. But at the same time any problems that he had with the Professor weren't any of Luke's business. Luke's business was to learn from him, although that stemmed mostly from the fact that Don Paolo had been unable to get rid of the boy since he'd decided that he wanted to be an apprentice. Why anyone might want to be educated by him was beyond Don Paolo, but it was... nice to have someone around who not only thought you were worth talking to, but also really admired you.

"I can't believe that he's fooled everyone with his act," Luke went on, "Even my dad!"

"Yeah, well they did go to college together," muttered Don Paolo. He vaguely remembered Clark being there some of the times when he was watching Layton steal Claire from him...

"But that doesn't mean he's not a bad person. He... couldn't help Misthallery, after all..." Luke trailed off, looking dejected.

As much as possible, Don Paolo tried not to pry into other people's personal history. However, that didn't stop him from feeling sorry for what Luke had went through. After putting all of his faith into Layton coming to save their town from that spectre, it turned out that the mystery wasn't solved in time. The Golden Garden was destroyed in a battle between some... giant sea creature (Don Paolo was a bit hazy on the details) and that glorified amateur, Descole. Apparently, a girl who was friends with Luke had been relying on something in the garden to save her from a terminal illness. And... well, in all fairness Luke probably did have a better reason not to like Layton than he did.

It seemed odd that such a cheerful person would even hold a grudge like that, but here Luke was, trying to help him work on a flying machine that was clearly going way over the boy's head in terms of construction. Unfortunately, Don Paolo already knew that his apprentice would never make a great engineer, but he was eager enough to be helpful if he was told what to do.

After a few minutes of silence, Luke said, "So what are we going to do when this is finished?"

"We're going to take it for a test fly," replied Don Paolo, watching Luke's face light up with excitement, "I've gotten word that Layton's headed out to some nowhere village called St. Mystere, to solve some sort of inheritance dispute or something. But we'll get there first and stop him from stealing the treasure for his own."

"That's great! Then I can make my first appearance as your apprentice!" Luke chimed.

"If you have to," Don Paolo muttered. If he was entirely honest, he wasn't looking forward to Layton's response to finding out that he'd unintentionally kidnapped Clark's son.

"Layton won't know what hit him!" continued Luke.

Now that was something that Don Paolo definitely could look forward to him.

"Yes, we'll show him who's boss," he chuckled, "But we'd better get back to work or he'll have come and gone before we're finished."

"Not on my watch!" Luke proclaimed, hammering at the machine with renewed vigour. If anything, he was probably doing more harm than good to its construction by doing that, but Don Paolo admired his enthusiasm and let him get on with it.

Soon enough, Layton would pay for all the damage that he'd done to them both.


	4. Dimitri Allen

**Notes:** This chapter has Luke as the apprentice of Dimitri Allen, as suggested by The Mocking J. I cheated for this one a bit and have set it in the same (or at least, a similar) universe as the chapter where Luke is Clive's apprentice. So this chapter might not make much sense if you haven't read that one. Set a few days after the kidnapping of Bill Hawks, with heavy spoilers for Lost Future.

* * *

The time that Luke spent with the scientists could be summed up as an examination of background noise. It wasn't as if there was total silence in the room, but any sound that did occur came from the clang of machinery or the grunt of someone trying to figure out a particularly difficult equation. No one spoke to anyone else unless it was absolutely necessary and certainly no one bothered to speak to Luke.

He didn't doubt that the scientists would have told him to leave if Dimitri hadn't ordered them not to. And he also didn't doubt that Dimitri would have told to leave if, in turn, Clive hadn't made it very clear how important Luke was to their plan and therefore he shouldn't be dismissed unless the dismissal came from Clive personally.

Luke's importance was something that Dimitri doubted, which was obvious every time he looked at the boy. Most of the time, Luke was perfectly fine with this, because he didn't really like being around Dimitri anyway. Everything Clive had told him about how Dimitri was one of the people responsible for the explosion ten years ago had led Luke not to trust him.

But at the same time, the scientists were working on a real time machine. And although Clive had told Luke that this was just a project to distract them from the truth, the fact remained that somehow they'd managed to bring a lady forwards in time by ten years. Luke didn't know a lot about the lady, because the others very decidedly didn't talk about her and he'd been told that him talking to her might upset the plan, but she seemed to be very important and had a kind-looking face.

So sometimes, despite knowing better, Luke found that he went to the laboratory during moment when the plan didn't require him to travel with Layton.

On this such occasion he was watching Dimitri work on something that was beyond Luke's understanding. As usual, Dimitri was ignoring him unless he couldn't avoid doing so.

Sometimes Luke took advantage of the fact that Clive's restrictions prevented Dimitri from outright not replying to his questions though. This was one of those times.

"The time machine isn't working yet, right?" he asked.

Dimitri grunted, and then muttered, "No, it isn't quite finished."

"So then how did the lady get here?" said Luke, voicing a question that Dimitri had known was coming.

"She came here because of another time machine; one from the past," Dimitri confirmed.

"Not this one?"

"No."

"Did you work on the other time machine, too?"

"Yes."

"But you can't get this one to work?"

"Don't you have other places to be right now?" Dimitri snapped, "There are only a few days left until we bring Layton here."

Bill Hawks had already been kidnapped. Even knowing what that man had done, Luke felt nervous about knowing they had the Prime Minister held against his will somewhere in the underground city. He tried his best to not think about it.

"The Professor hasn't got Clive's letter yet. That's tomorrow," replied Luke, wanting Dimitri to know that he was as knowledgeable about the plan as anyone else was.

"Very well," Dimitri mumbled.

He then tried to go back to work, but Luke wasn't about to let him off the hook just yet.

"If you could make a time machine back then, why can't you do it now?" he questioned.

"Back then I had a different team," said Dimitri, not directly saying 'a better team' within the earshot of the other scientists, "Before Bill fell back onto the softer sciences, the man was a genius. And Claire even more so. She was the driving force behind everything."

"Is Claire the lady who travelled through time?" checked Luke.

There was a brief silence in which Dimitri had probably realised he'd said too much, but then figured there was no point in lying about such an obvious point; "Yes, she is."

"Then why don't you get her to help you?" Luke replied.

"She's already left. And besides, she would never agree to being involved in such a scheme," Dimitri said, a sense of regret definitely creeping into his tone.

"But if you explained to her everything that's happened, surely she'd want to help," Luke insisted.

"Claire doesn't... see things the way that we do," Dimitri argued, "She has a different opinion about what is right."

This confused Luke greatly. Surely, stopping the bad guy was the right thing to do. Although, according to Clive, Dimitri was also one of the bad guys and was only working with them because they needed to keep him close. But then, if Dimitri wanted the same things that they want, surely that meant he was... good?

It was all a little confusing.

"Um, Dimitri?"

"What is it now?"

"Why are you doing all of this? What do you want to happen after we've shown everyone that Bill Hawks is an awful person?"

They both looked at each other, each trying to decide how much the other had been told by Clive about what was happening and how much it would be sensible to not let the other know they knew. Luke was aware that it was important to keep it a secret from Dimitri that they were using him, but he also knew very little about what Clive was planning to do to Bill Hawks and felt that Dimitri was more informed about that.

Eventually, Dimitri answered, "I want to complete the time machine so that I can save her- ...I mean, save everyone who was hurt by the explosion."

"That's a very nice thing to do," Luke agreed, "But, um, if you stop that from happening, won't a lot of stuff change about the world. I mean, you and Clive wouldn't be here doing this."

Dimitri snorted; "Will you miss having to be here?"

"No really," Luke admitted.

He knew that what he was doing for the plan was right and he was glad to help save London in any way that he could. But at the same time, if none of this had happened he could maybe be the Professor's apprentice for real and go on lots of adventures with him without it being just an act. And Clive would be happier too, because he'd be with his parents. Even Dimitri would be happy, because his friend wouldn't die and then he'd have no reason to become a bad person. The more he thought about it, the better he thought that completing the time machine would be.

And yet, at the same time he couldn't help but feel that Layton would tell him doing this was very wrong. Not only that, but the nice lady had seemed to think it was wrong as well. He wished he could know why they felt this way. The conflict of viewpoints was making him feel unsettled.

Especially when, at the end of the day, Clive had told him that the time machine was only a distraction to keep Dimitri busy.

Did that mean that Clive didn't want to stop all the bad things that had happened?

So where did that put Clive? Not on Dimitri's side, that much was clear. But probably not on Layton's side either, despite him insisting that Layton's help was very important to their plan.

Once again, Luke was forced to accept that Clive had his own agenda and that perhaps it wasn't what Luke had initially thought that it was.

But Luke just wanted to help people.

And Dimitri said that the time machine would help everyone...

"Are you all right?" Dimitri enquired. It was the first time he'd ever shown any consideration towards Luke outside of answering his questions as formally and dismissively as he could.

"Yes, I was just trying to make sense of all the stuff that's happening," Luke replied.

"Good luck with that," Dimitri murmured.

"Dimitri?"

"What?"

"If everything goes okay with stopping Bill Hawks then, um, can I help you work on your time machine? I want to help people," Luke asked, his voice verging on pleading.

There was a moment in which Dimitri looked as if he pitied Luke, but it was gone in the next second.

"Very well. If all happens as we intend it to, then you can help me work on the time machine. We can save everyone together," he answered.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, for Luke, this was one apprenticeship that was fated never to come to pass.


	5. Granny Riddleton

**Notes:** This chapter has Luke as the apprentice of Granny Riddleton, as suggested by Jubalii. Set a few months after the events of Lost Future, with some PL3 spoilers.

* * *

"But I have seen you before! You're Granny Riddleton! You do this every time we meet you, pretending that you've never heard of us before," Luke proclaimed.

"Us? I don't see no 'us', sonny. I just see a young boy who's wandered into my puzzle shack and got very angry," replied Granny Riddleton, frowning at him.

"Oh... well, when I mean us I meant when me and... and the Professor used to find you during our adventures," Luke clarified, "But he's not with me because I moved away. So does that mean it's actually me you're following around and not him?"

"I ain't following anyone around," Granny Riddleton huffed, offended at the suggestion, "All I was doing was retiring abroad now that my granddaughter was old enough to take over from me. I can't help it if I just happened to retire to the same place that you moved to."

"So you are the same Granny Riddleton!"

"Drat. Walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"All right, so why do you have a puzzle shack here? I mean, didn't you retire because you got sick of it?" asked Luke.

Realising that she wasn't going to get rid of him now that he knew it was her, Granny Riddleton gave up and explained, "Puzzles are part of who I am. Finding lost puzzles is what I've always done, every since I was a little 'un. They just flock to me. And while I did get sick of having to look after them, at the same time I really can't leave them. Not properly. So I opened a little shack here, just for the stray ones I find wandering about."

"Do you find many?" Luke checked, intrigued by this notion that puzzles were something wild that could be caught and brought home with you.

"Not so many as I did when you and that gentleman friend of yours used to run around England practically generating them," she scolded, "Honestly, that was just a mess. I don't doubt that he was a very smart man, but it's just messy to leave your puzzles lying around. You were both lucky that you had me to clean up after them!"

"Yeah, we were. We'd never have found half of them again if it wasn't for you," Luke agreed.

"So do you see the dangers of leaving puzzles all over the place? You might think to yourself, 'oh, I can just pick them up later', but maybe later the person who gave you that puzzle might have got bored and gone home or else the place where the puzzle was might have got buried in rubble or driven off, if, for example, the place that your puzzle was in happened to be a car," Granny Riddleton replied, recounting various things she'd had to do in order to chase lost puzzles in the past.

"It would be really awful if they were gone forever..." Luke whispered, horrified by the thought.

"That's why I do what I do," confirmed Granny Riddleton, nodding with pride.

"I never thought about how you found all of our missing puzzles before," Luke admitted.

"It ain't easy," she said.

"No, it doesn't sound like it is. But you shouldn't have to do it all on your own. Maybe if you taught me how to find puzzles then it wouldn't be so much work for you," offered Luke.

"Sorry sonny, but no can do. Finding puzzles isn't something you can just pick up, you have to be born with it. The Riddletons have it in their blood. That's why Puzzlette took over from me. Heck, even my cat is an expert puzzle-finder," Granny Riddleton answered, suddenly wondering where Keats had wandered off to today.

"Oh, okay then... But it's still all right if I come here to solve puzzles, right? It's just that I don't have very much to do here since I moved," said Luke.

"I don't see why not," she replied.

"Thanks! It'll be just like old times. Only without the Professor or Flora or Emmy..." he trailed off, suddenly looking dejected.

Poor kid probably hasn't made many friends, Granny Riddleton thought to herself. Well, no one could ever accuse Elizabeth of being a cruel lady.

"Actually, now that I think about it, while you do have to be born with the talent of finding lost puzzles, there might be the odd trick or two that any old person could manage," she mused aloud.

"R-really? Do you think I could learn them?" Luke asked, his expression changing to one of hopeful optimism.

"I don't see what harm could come of giving it a go," replied Granny Riddleton.

"That's brilliant! I could be your apprentice just like I'm the Professor's apprentice and learn everything there is to know about puzzle finding!" Luke cheered.

"And here I thought I was going to have a quiet retirement," Granny Riddleton laughed.

Although, if she was honest with herself, she'd actually be glad of the company. She had a feeling that Luke was as well.


	6. Randall Ascot

**Notes:** This chapter has Luke as the apprentice of Randall Ascot, as suggested by MissFeliggy. Set pre-PL4, in an AU where the events shown in the flashbacks of Miracle Mask didn't happen.

* * *

Luke sat on one of the many benches that littered the museum, watching his own feet as he swished them back and forth in a vague attempt to keep himself amused. Sadly, nothing could detract from the fact that he was very bored right now.

It wasn't that he had to come to these talks very often, as usually his dad would leave him at home, but sometimes his mum would be away and there'd be no one to look after him, so he'd have to come. Which is what had happened today.

He didn't understand why his dad was still so obsessed with listening to famous archaeologists blather on about what new facts they'd discovered after looking at some fossil that someone else had dug up a decade or more ago. Clark was the mayor of a town now, not an archaeologist. But apparently he'd been one of the best students in his year when he was at college and still wanted to show a keen interest.

This was an interest that Luke did not share. Having been to this museum so many times that he practically knew every exhibit by heart, nothing here really appealed to him any more.

"Ah, there you are!"

Glancing up from his examination of his feet, Luke saw a confident-looking man with red hair staring down at him. From the way the man had spoken, it sounded like he knew him, but Luke was certain that he'd never seen this person before.

"Yes?" Luke hesitantly replied.

"You're Clark Triton's son, aren't you?" checked the man.

"Yes, I am," answered Luke, and then feeling like more was expected of him he added, "My name's Luke."

"And I'm Randall Ascot. It's an honour to meet the son of one of Dr. Schrader's finest student," said Randall, offering out a hand for Luke to shake.

Oh. He was one of those guys. Luke should have known. Almost every time he was brought here he ended up being subjected to some stuffy former student trying really hard to be nice to him, because they admired his dad's grades in college. Most of them wanted to know if Luke took after his father when it came to archaeology and were disappointed when they learned this wasn't the case.

Still, you had to be polite.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Ascot," assured Luke, reaching to take the hand, "What in the-?"

Before Luke could take the hand a dove appeared on it in a puff of smoke, before disappearing up into the rafters. Both Luke and Randall stared after it as it made to settle, looking dangerously like it intended to leave a mess on top of one of the exhibits.

"Ah, I'll have to get that back later," Randall sighed.

"Are you even allowed to bring those in here?" asked Luke, looking back at Randall now.

Randall dismissed this with, "Young man, you are allowed to bring magic anywhere, it cannot be banned."

Okay, so this guy was potentially crazy, but he was still the most interesting person who'd spoken to Luke today.

"Um, is that why you're here? To perform a magic show?" Luke checked. He'd seen posters saying that the museum sometimes put on different displays for kids, so that seemed like a safe assumption.

"No, no, magic is just something I do for fun. I'm hear to listen to Dr. Schrader's lecture like everyone else," corrected Randall.

"Were you a student of his?" Luke questioned. He was certain that he'd never seen him here before. None of the other archaeologists stood out quite as much as Randall did.

"I was indeed, in your father's very year," Randall confirmed, "But I've been away for a long time, off on digs and trying to discover things. I'm usually too busy to come to these. However, your father talked me into it this time."

"Are you the friend that he always mentions?"

"Depends, what does he say about me?"

"I don't think this is very nice, but dad used to talk about someone from his school called Randy Bratscot who used to cause all kinds of trouble," mumbled Luke.

If he was worried about offending Randall this fear was soon put to rest, as instead Randall erupted into laughter.

"Randy Bratscot! I'd forgotten about that! Clark should know by now that only Angie's allowed to call me Randy," chuckled Randall. Then, before Luke had a chance to ask who Angie was, he went on, "You must be really bored here, Luke."

"Y-yes, I am," Luke admitted.

"Me too. Sitting around listening to old men talk is the worst part of archaeology. It should all be about adventure! Danger! Discovery!" proclaimed Randall, punching the air with each point he made.

Luke looked lost; "Is there really much adventure and danger in archaeology? I know there's a lot of discovery, but it doesn't seem to be that much fun."

"Not much fun? How do you think the discoveries happen?" Randall gasped, "Archaeologists don't just sit around and have ancient artefacts fall into their laps! They need to trek through unknown ruins, fighting off traps left there by ancient civilisations and braving the dangers cause by the decay of time."

"That does sound like a lot of fun," Luke agreed, "But I can't really imagine any of the archaeologists here doing that."

"Well, that's because most of the archaeologists here are boring. They're mainly just professors who teach from a classroom. That's not real archaeology if you ask me," replied Randall, with a wink.

Luke couldn't help but laugh a little.

"My dad and Dr. Schrader would be very cross if they heard you say that," he said.

Randall huffed, "Then they're boring too! And they're the reason I had to come here when I could be out examining that tunnel that was unearthed during a cave-in a few days ago."

"But why didn't you go do that? If you've never been to any of these talks before then why come now?" said Luke. He couldn't seem to help himself from asking Randall questions. He'd never come across an archaeologist who behaved like this before. It was almost as if Randall had jumped straight out of an adventure storybook.

"I kind of felt that I had to," Randall replied, with a definite note of sulk to his tone, "There's a position opening for a university lecturer soon and your father really thought I should take it. Of course, I said that I wouldn't be interested in a dull job like that, but he told me that I used to enjoy learning about archaeology when I was younger, so maybe I'd like helping other people to learn about it as well. He talked me into coming here, because if I liked listening to this talk then it was probably a good sign that I'd like the job."

"I'm sorry to let you down, but these things are never any fun," said Luke, "Maybe it's because I'm a kid and I don't understand half of it, but it all just sounds like blah, blah, blah to me."

"That can't be right! When I was your age I was already in love with archaeology!" Randall proclaimed.

"Maybe I would be if I knew it was all about going on adventures," argued Luke, "But all I ever hear is that some dinosaur bone has a curve on it that no one noticed before and that means that maybe that dinosaur couldn't fly after all."

"Hmm, this is no good at all," mused Randall, who suddenly started pacing the room quite purposefully. He was frowning deeply and staring off into space.

Before he could wear a hole in the floor, Luke cut-in, "What's not good, Mr. Ascot?"

"That archaeology seems boring to a child like you," Randall informed, "If lecturers keep on making it dull, then soon enough archaeologists might end up being as extinct as the dinosaurs they study!"

"Um, I'm not sure that would happen..." mumbled Luke.

"But it might! And I can't risk that!" yelled Randall, causing several of the museum's visitors to look in his direction and then swiftly ignore him again, in case they accidentally caught his attention, "Archaeology is the best thing in the world. But from the sounds of it these stuffy old professors are making it seem like it's as boring as afternoon tea! Luke, you have made me reach me decision!"

"I-I have?" stammered Luke, who was quietly wondering what was wrong with afternoon tea.

"Yes! I'm going to become a lecturer of archaeology and teach the next generation just how fun it is," he insisted, "I'm going to take my class to dig sites every week, show them how to disarm ancient traps and how to tell which plants are dangerous, for if they're ever lost in a forest and want to know what they can eat. I'll be the best lecturer that there ever was! Just you wait and see!"

Before Luke could say another word, Randall had dashed off through the door that lead to the 'staff only' part of the museum, where his dad had gone earlier to talk to Dr. Schrader. For a moment, Luke considered going after him, but then he decided that Randall had seemed so full of purpose that it would be wrong to get in his way.

Plus, he really didn't want to explain to his dad that he was the reason that Randall had gotten so worked up.

That, however, turned out to be a conversation that was unavoidable. Although thankfully it didn't occur until the car ride home after the lecture.

"I saw an old friend today," Clark started, without looking away from the road ahead, "The one I told you all the stories about, Randy Bratscot."

"Did you?" murmured Luke, shrinking down in his seat.

"Yes, and he said that he spoke with you before the lecture," Clark continued.

"Oh, well... we might have talked for a little while, yeah," Luke answered.

"Whatever you said to him I'm glad of it. You pretty much convinced him to take that job," said Clark, "His wife will be very happy. She's been wanting him to settle down for a while now."

"I'm glad to hear that," Luke replied. Personally, he couldn't imagine Randall settling down for anything, even after just talking to him for a short time. There was a pause, as neither of them knew what else to say on the matter, but then Luke decided to speak up, "Dad?"

"Yes, Luke?"

"When I get older, can I go learn archaeology at Mr. Ascot's class?"

"It's funny you should mention that, because he did say that, if you wanted to, he'd offer you a place as his apprentice. I actually told him that you weren't interested, but he seemed to think you might have changed your mind about archaeology," answered Clark.

"I have changed my mind," assured Luke, "I want to be a great archaeologist who goes and has adventures and discovers stuff and everything."

"Sounds like we have another Randall in the making," sighed Clark, smiling and shaking his head.

Luke didn't reply to that, as his head was already too busy filling up with ideas of going to uncharted lands and searching through dangerous ruins. Imagine him being an apprentice to a great adventurer, who made lots of discoveries. That sounded like a lot of fun!

Maybe he was being too much like Mr. Ascot by rushing into a decision, but right there and then Luke knew that this was exactly what he wanted to do with his life.


	7. Crow

**Notes:** This chapter has Luke as the apprentice of Crow, as suggested by The Mocking J on FFN. I'd been hoping someone would suggest him. Set several years post-PL3, when Luke is an adult, with some spoilers for PL3 and PL4.

* * *

People may say that the countryside does not change very much with the passage of time. This is not true. Perhaps the scenery still looks the same and the buildings in small towns don't get remodelled very often, but if you were to live in a place like Misthallery, then move away and return to it after a long absence, you'd notice that the differences were to many to measure.

Since Luke had left, the place had become a popular tourist destination for some time, before fizzling out to the general sound of 'Misthallery – the Golden Garden is here and you can come look at it if you want to'. A steady tourist trade is nice, but the appeal does tend to vanish as the next trend comes along to snatch it away. People still visited, but it wasn't as crowded as it used to be.

By the time Luke returned there in adulthood, hoping to settle down for a while, the place was hardly recognisable.

There had been too many people who he'd known in the past that had now vanished and too many other people he'd never met before arrive to replace them. A five year old boy had stared at him like he was an outsider the other day, even though Luke had done more to help Misthallery back in the day than anyone else he could name. Except for the Professor and Emmy, of course.

But now he was just some rich boy who was the son of that old mayor who wasn't very good at being a mayor. And if there's one thing Misthallery didn't like, it was rich kids. Since the dawn of the Golden Garden's popularity, there'd also been a wave of wealthy families retiring there from the city, only adding fuel to the fire that already divided the middle-class from the working-class.

The town had always been divided into two parts between both of those segments. Being born into a middle-class family meant that Luke was never really accepted amongst most of the kids in Misthallery. They tended to not give him a chance and, even after he saved the town, they were cautious of him for reasons that they couldn't put their fingers on. It was a divide that was sadly drummed into the minds of youths and probably wasn't likely to change any time soon.

There had been two exceptions to this shunning when Luke had been younger – Arianna and her brother Tony. Both of them came from the same class background as Luke did (if he was honest, they were probably much wealthier than he was) and had felt the same kind of separation from the other children that he felt.

From everything he'd heard, however, life had gotten better for them in that regard after he'd left Misthallery. With the Black Ravens next to adopting Tony into their group and everyone making more time for Arianna once the misconceptions about her had been cleared.

That had been years ago though and now neither of the Barde siblings lived here any more.

"What did you expect? For them to wait around for you to get back?" Crow dismissed, when Luke brought this up to him.

Luke had come down to the market to visit Crow, as he was one of the few people left here who he was still familiar with. They'd never particularly been close, for all the class reasons that Luke knew, but he was friendly enough for the two of them to talk from time to time.

"That's not what I meant," reasoned Luke, "It's not like I thought they had to wait for me. But that house belonged to their father and I thought they'd want to keep it."

"Yeah, but their dad died years ago," Crow countered, "It was all very sad, but they both grew up and wanted to see more of the world. Misthallery is such a little place and your letters made everything else seem a lot bigger. Can you blame them for wanting to head off?"

"I guess not. So is that what happened with some of the other Black Ravens?" Luke asked.

"Badger, Gus and Marilyn are still here," Crow replied and there was a definite hint of defensiveness to his tone, "But basically, yeah. They all left for different reasons in the end. Look at Wren and Socket - they wanted to be mechanics, and they were great at it, but because of the rope bridges stopping cars from entering the town there isn't much need for mechanics here. They left to find somewhere that was better for their work. Over time the others moved away for mostly the same thing."

"But at least you still have some of them here with you," reasoned Luke, trying to be optimistic.

"Marilyn took over her parents stalls entirely. So while she's still classed as one of us, she doesn't have the time to work here these days," answered Crow, "It's mostly just the three of us."

"Must be hard," Luke mumbled.

"It's a lot of work without much profit," Crow agreed.

"But you're in the brochure. The one that they made to promote the Golden Garden. It literally tells people to come to the market and try to find the mysterious Black Raven," Luke pointed out.

The frown that Crow gave him in reply suggested that he was well-aware that they were in the brochure.

He scratched the back of his head, before muttering, "Don't get me wrong, the free advertising is great. But we never wanted to be a tourist gimmick. We wanted to make the business bigger. I expected to move somewhere better by the time we were this age, but everyone else had their own dreams to pursue. I couldn't hold them back. So really, we don't have the money or the help to do anything other than what we always have done here in Misthallery."

"I could-"

"We don't take charity."

"That wasn't what I was going to say!" Luke snapped. It was, but Crow didn't need to know that; "What I meant was that maybe if you opened up to a few more members..."

"There's no one to recruit. We're still about as secretive now as we were back then. The only reason you even know about us is because Mr. Layton found us out," Crow argued.

"You could always ask me to help," Luke tried.

There was a moment of silence in which, whether he meant to or not, Crow looked Luke up and down. The frown had not shifted.

"Why would you want to? You went off to be Layton's apprentice and then you moved to America to study a degree or something," he commented.

"But I'm here now," Luke answered.

"That's not the point. The point is that you have the potential and know the right people to go anywhere you want to," Crow debated.

"And yet I'm still here," Luke pointed out, "Maybe I didn't want to do any of those things. Maybe I've seen enough of the world for the moment and just want to relax back at the place that I started from."

Crow sneered; "The Black Ravens are not just a holiday home for you to come and go from whenever you want."

"I know that! ...I'm really making it worse for myself here, aren't I?" sighed Luke, "What I meant was that I'm here right now, not at any of the other places where I could be, and I can help you."

"Where will you be in two months, though? Or five years? I need someone I can rely on," Crow argued.

"Funny that, because you let the others go."

"I already said that I wasn't going to hold them back!"

"All right, that was low, sorry. But you can trust my word. Once I start something I stick with it. I would have followed the Professor forever if dad hadn't decided we were moving. And when I got back... too much had changed with him. It didn't feel right to follow him around any more," Luke trailed off.

"Just like how it doesn't feel right here any more either?" checked Crow.

"Here and everywhere else. England is different now and I can't just slot back in. I never really felt right in America at all, but now I don't here either," he replied, "But I'm not going to give up and let it sweep me over. I want to make my place here again. And maybe working with all of you might be what I can do with myself now."

There was a slight smirk about Crow's face now, the frown having vanished entirely.

He questioned, "You have no idea what it takes to be a Black Raven, do you?"

"No, none at all. I think you just find junk and sell it, but that would be my best guess."

"And you're probably a real bad liar."

"The worst. I've got an honest face and as soon as I even try to lie everyone knows that's no truth to it."

"So that'd back it really bad for when you're trying to pass off an old pot as a Wedgwood original."

"Probably."

"You're not very qualified. I think even Tony had more experience than you."

"So when can I start?"

"Tomorrow. I'll send Badger around to pick you up nice and early."

"What time's 'nice and early'?"

A grin.

"You'll find out when Badger's hammering on your front door."

Luke didn't like the sound of that. But he did like the sound of having purpose in his live again. So he'd take it whatever time it hammered on his door to wake him up in the morning.


	8. Loosha

**Notes:** This chapter has Luke as the apprentice of Loosha, as suggested by Jubalii. I'm writing these a little out of order now, so I apologise to anyone who I told that a different character would be next. As this has gone on, I've found it's probably best to choose whichever suggestion I feel like working on at the time, but hopefully they'll all get done soon enough. Anyway, this is set when Luke is slightly older, in an AU where none of the events of Spectre's Call happened (so consequentially a lot of other things would have happened differently as well).

* * *

By the time that Arianna left the house that morning, Luke was already sat in front of the lake. It had reached the point where she would just expect him to be there, hunched over, waiting for the sea creature to come greet him. Days when Luke wasn't there were less often and usually only came when he had some unavoidable family matters to deal with at home. Mostly, he'd wake up before his parents did to avoid this, leaving them notes assuring them that he'd be back in time for school.

However, it seemed that not even Loosha woke up as early in the morning as Luke did.

Arianna sat on the ground next to him, offering out a packet of humbugs (she had come prepared), which Luke gratefully took one of, before he went back to his study of the water's surface. It would probably be another long day, so Arianna decided to make conversation.

"Tony and I are always happy to have you," she started, "But don't you think that it's a bit pointless coming up here at this time, when Loosha doesn't even wake up until later."

"I think she wakes up early on," Luke replied, "She just doesn't come to see us until around now."

"What makes you say that?" asked Arianna.

"She gives the impression that she's eaten first. But I could be wrong. Everything we know about her is just what we see when she's here with us," Luke answered, before sighing and adding, "I wish that we could follow her and learn more about her, but she goes too deep into the water for us to swim. There'd be no way for us to get the means to go down there without telling other people about Loosha."

"And that's a definite no," Arianna glumly concluded.

"It's a pity, but you can only imagine what some people might do if they discovered her," agreed Luke.

By this point it didn't even need to be said. From everything they'd seen, the Bardes and their friend had formed the impression that Loosha was the last of her kind. Or at least that there weren't any more like her around here. If other people knew of her then there'd be no question that scientists would come, trying to force her into an environment where they could study her. And if not scientists, then some selfish person who would try to make a profit out of her in some way.

"What about that lady from in town? The one who studies fish. She seems nice," Arianna suggested.

"She is nice and would probably know enough about marine life to learn more than we can. But she's still a scientist and would probably tell others in time. And we can't be sure that everyone will be nice," Luke debated, "It's better if we learn about Loosha on our own."

Nodding, Arianna replied, "I suppose so."

Any further discussion was put on-hold for the moment, as Loosha's head started to emerge from the water. She was a large blue-grey creature with a form that would almost be fitting to the image of a Lock Ness Monster, only wider in most places, and she towered over both Luke and Arianna easily.

Upon seeing them, Loosha bleated happily and swam closer, ever intrigued by the prospect of food. Thankfully, Luke had come prepared and took a few pears out of his bag to feed her with. Pears were a type of food that Tony had discovered Loosha ate not long after they'd first met her, though in truth it seemed there were few things Loosha wouldn't eat. He tossed them over and Loosha skilfully caught them in her mouth, darting her head this way and that. After which, she chewed them noisily for a few moments, before coming closer to see if there were more. The two stepped a side, allowing Loosha to nose at the bag for long enough to determine that there wasn't, after which she settled down and allowed Arianna to walk over to stroke her.

As she ran her hand down the underwater creature's neck, Arianna would almost pretend that she could hear Loosha purring, like a cat, when in actual fact she knew it was just a soft hum. Either way, the noise was an indication that Loosha was content.

"And how are you today?" Arianna cooed.

Having not heard her, Luke muttered, "She's been eating reeds, I could see some of them clinging to her teeth when she caught the pears. And judging from the mud stuck to her, I believe that she's been swimming in the marsh further around the lake. You know, I think she goes there a lot. Maybe it'd be worth heading across there in the mornings to see if she does appear at the marsh before she comes to see us."

He went on like this for a while, reeling off ideas he had about Loosha based upon her behaviour, like he always did. None of this was information that Arianna hadn't heard before, so she only half-listened, being more content just to be there with Loosha.

"You really want to learn from her, don't you?" she said, when there was enough of a gap in Luke's chatter.

"Yes, I do. If I didn't then I wouldn't be at the lake here to see her every day," he confirmed, and realising that statement had an awful implication that he hadn't intended, added, "That isn't to say that I wouldn't come see you and Tony! The two of you are great friends and I like coming here. I just wouldn't be at the lake specifically."

"I know what you meant," Arianna assured him. She seemed to be giggling at a private joke now; "Do you know what they call someone who wants to learn from someone else?"

"Um, I can think of a few names," mumbled Luke, not liking where this was going.

"An apprentice," she proclaimed.

Luke frowned; "Please don't say what I think you're going t-"

"You're Loosha's apprentice!" Arianna laughed.

Luke was about to argue, but then he noted how happy Arianna looked as she leaned against their aquatic friend, chuckling away at her little joke. Although Loosha had no idea what they were saying, she sensed Arianna's happiness and bleated in return. It almost felt as if she was laughing as well.

Arianna was a very sickly girl. With each day she was alive, Luke and Tony were thankful, because they never knew how much longer she had left. She refused to get help, claiming there was nothing anyone could do and becoming angrier with each time either of them suggested it. All she wanted was to live each day as best she could and being in this garden made her feel best. There was something about being here with Loosha that always brought a smile to her face.

As time went on, Luke came to realise that seeing her smile so genuinely was the best thing he could ask for. And if him being Loosha's apprentice was what made her smile, then that is the title that he would go by for as long as she wanted.


	9. Inspector Chelmey

**Note:** This chapter has Luke as the apprentice of Inspector Chelmey, as suggested by Imagine Worlds and PL-Fan111 on dA. Set several years post-PL3, when Luke is an adult. Contains mild spoilers for the end of PL3.

* * *

Chelmey observed the crowd in his small office with his usual disinterested frown. It wasn't really much of a crowd, just Barton, Colby, Monica (the only person in Scotland Yard who could surpass Chelmey at not being able to abide time wasting, judging from her own frown) and Luke. Grosky was supposed to be there as well, but urgent business had called. Lucky for some.

Clearing his throat, Chelmey began, "Now then, I'm sure you all know why we're here, so let's keep it simple. It isn't every day that someone gets brought onto the force here at Scotland Yard. We only take the best of the best."

"Here, here, Inspector!" chimed Barton, who shut up and covered his mouth when Chelmey glanced in his direction.

"Yes, well all of the formalities have already been dealt with," Chelmey went on, "Technically speaking, this young lad is already one of us. But given how much he did to help us back when he was a kid, combined with how hard we all know he's worked to get here now that he's grown up, I think it's only fair that we give Luke a proper greeting. So go on, all of you clap."

The room was filled with the odd combination of the overly energetic clapping of Barton & Colby and Monica's half-hearted "is this over yet?" approach. It died down after a few moments and Chelmey beckoned Luke forward to say a few words.

The young man puffed his chest out in the same way that Barton would do when addressed by Chelmey. Very eager to make the best impression he could, so that they'd all know he was going to do his job as well as it was possible to do a job.

"Th-thank you everyone," Luke stammered, "I really appreciate that you're taking me on. And I'd like to especially thank Inspector Chelmey for encouraging me to go through the proper training and not giving me any special treatment because of my past. I feel that I've learned a lot and will, um, continue to learn a lot in future." There was a pause in which Barton & Colby both clapped again, before Luke continued, "Scotland Yard is very important to me. I didn't realise that until after my family had moved to America. Because before that I just wanted to be the Professor's apprentice, without really thinking about what that even meant. It turned out that, although I did want to be a gentleman, I didn't really want to be an archaeologist at all and I'd never been following the Professor for that reason. Being a gentleman is great, but you also need to work out what you want to do for the rest of your life. And what I wanted to do was help people. Which is exactly what I've seen Scotland Yard do so many times in the past. So, well, what I'm trying to say is, thank you all for being such a good influence on me."

After letting the others clap for a few minutes, Chelmey grumbled, "Good speech, very moving. And it brings us onto another matter that I'd gathered us all here to announce. Luke might be a beginner here, but I have high hopes for him and because of that want him to work with the best. So, not to toot my own horn or anything, but he's going to be working alongside me as something of an apprentice, I suppose."

"That's great, Inspector!" Barton cheered, and then he turned to Luke and added, "The two of us will be working together."

"I hadn't finished, Barton," growled Chelmey.

"Sorry Inspector!" gulped Barton.

"As I was saying," Chelmey continued, "Luke will be my subordinate from now on. But that also means that another member of our force will be getting a long overdue promotion. This is the first time this news will have reached your ears, because Amelie said it would be a nice surprise, but our own Constable Barton will from now on be known as a Sergeant."

There was more clapping, though it soon died out as they all realised how shocked Barton looked.

"M-me? A Sergeant?" he checked.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" replied Chelmey.

"But I'm not sure I'm Sergeant material. With all due respect, Inspector, I feel that maybe I'm... um..." Barton trailed off.

"You're good enough. I'm telling you you're good enough, so you are. I think you've been ready for the job for a long time and Luke joining us was the perfect time to make it official," Chelmey firmly assured.

"But what, um, what if I make mistakes?" Barton asked.

"Then I'll clip you 'round the ear, same as if you made mistakes before," Chelmey promised him, "And you will make mistakes. But you'll learn. It's time to let someone else get the first leg on the ladder, Barton."

"Do you want us to go?" Luke cut in, feeling that this might be better off private.

"Nah, it's all right. Actually, yeah, why not? Never had much time for big speeches. You all know what you need to know," Chelmey muttered, "Monica, I'd appreciate it if you could show Luke to the staffroom, so he knows where to hide when I don't need him to work. Not that there'll be much time for not working around here. Now off you go, all of you." The group filed out, with Barton taking the rear, seeming kind of dejected. Before he could make it all the way out the door, Chelmey called, "Hey, Barton, you gonna be all right with this?"

Barton sniffed and nodded; "I suppose so, Inspector."

"Don't think of it as... look, don't be sad, all right? It's a compliment that I think you're good enough. And everyone else does as well. You can't be under my feet forever, you've always known that," he mumbled.

"Yes, Inspector. And I'm glad that Luke- ...I mean Constable Triton will be learning from you just like I have. It's just all so sudden," replied Barton.

"Maybe I should have had a word with you beforehand," Chelmey sighed.

"No, I think it was better that way," Barton answered, "And I'll still do my best so that I don't make you look bad."

"See that you do," grumbled Chelmey.

Barton saluted then made to leave for the second time.

"I hadn't finished!" Chelmey shot.

"Sorry Inspector!" squeaked Barton, as if they hadn't gone through this a million times before.

"Amelie's making beef stew with dumplings to celebrate your promotion, since she knows it's your favourite. So we'd appreciate it if you came over. Right, now you can go," he dismissed, looking down at his paperwork so he could pretend that he was pre-occupied with it.

"Thank you, Inspector! Please tell Amelie that I'm always happy to be on the receiving end of her wonderful cooking and will definitely be there," piped Barton, "And, um, I'm really thankful to you as well for all of this-"

"Dismissed, Sergeant," grumbled Chelmey.

"Of course!" One final salute and Barton was on his way.

When he was sure Barton was gone, Chelmey sighed to himself. It wasn't really a miserable sigh, but it didn't quite hit the happy notes either. It was more a sigh of acknowledgement that Scotland Yard was changing. For the best, of course. And he was watching it grow with something of a silent pride.

He was sure that Barton and Luke would both do well. They had learned and were learning from the best, after all.


End file.
